Definition of "paroxysm" [par•ox•ysm]

• A sudden outburst of emotion or action: a paroxysm of laughter. (noun)
• A sudden attack, recurrence, or intensification of a disease. (noun)
• A spasm or fit; a convulsion. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Her innards were in paroxysm, violently expelling what they no longer recognized as food."
• "The Greek word is the root of the English word paroxysm, which in medicine can stand for a seizure."
• "That is the basic joke of this very funny play: we modern, knowing libertines, entirely familiar with orgasms, watching repressed Victorians clinically discussing the heretofore unknown phenomenon they term a paroxysm, all thanks to Mr. Edison’s wondrous new discovery, electricity."